Scenius Sync (Issue # 145)
Sanctions on Tornado Cash Scrapped, POW Mining Outside SEC Purview, PENGU Leads NFT ETF, & Hyperliquid Launches Core and EVM
Scenius: The intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. The communal form of the concept of genius.
Welcome to The Scenius Sync.
Our mission with this concise publication is twofold:
Share the essential stories driving the crypto industry and markets.
Highlight innovative applications and mainstream adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.
If you find this newsletter valuable, please subscribe and share The Scenius Sync with your network 💪
Essential News 🗞
US scraps sanctions on Tornado Cash, crypto ‘mixer’ accused of laundering North Korea money
The U.S. Treasury on Friday lifted economic sanctions against Tornado Cash, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track, which the Biden administration had accused of helping launder more than $7 billion for North Korean and other cyber hackers. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted Tornado Cash in 2022 after concluding it was helping launder the proceeds of cyber crimes, including more than $455 million stolen by Lazarus, a North Korean government-backed hacking group.
Ripple opts not to cross-appeal as SEC case nears resolution
Ripple has decided not to file a cross-appeal, signaling that its long-running legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is nearing an end, the firm's chief legal officer said Wednesday. Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty posted on Wednesday on X his potential "last update" on the case following four years of back and forth between the two. Last week, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the SEC had pulled its appeal of part of an earlier ruling. A cross-appeal, which allows both sides to challenge different aspects of a court ruling, could have given Ripple a chance to contest its $125 million liability, but instead, Alderoty said the SEC will keep part of that amount and return the rest to the firm.
Proof-of-Work Crypto Mining Doesn’t Trigger Securities Laws, SEC Says
The SEC released a staff statement on Thursday declaring proof-of-work crypto mining, both solo and pooled, to be outside its jurisdiction. The statement comes a month after the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance published a similar statement suggesting that most memecoins do not constitute securities.
Kentucky Passes Bitcoin and Ethereum Self-Custody Law
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beashear yesterday signed House Bill 701, which offers greater protections for users who self-custody their Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Crucially, the new law received unanimous support at 91-0 in the House during a vote on Feb. 28 and again in the Senate on March 13 with 37-0, before being approved by the governor. This new law will guarantee the rights of individuals to hold and manage cryptocurrencies in their self-hosted wallets. This should mean those in Kentucky can gain total control over their cryptocurrency, without any issues of interference.
The SEC Resets Its Crypto Relationship
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to reset its relationship with the crypto industry, even before a permanent chair is confirmed by Congress. The latest effort was Friday's roundtable, hosted at the SEC's headquarters in Washington, D.C. and featuring a dozen attorneys representing different views and positions within the crypto industry.
0 of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 53 secondsVolume 0%
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Canary Capital breaks new ground with an NFT-inclusive crypto ETF featuring Pudgy Penguins
Canary Capital has filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) that provides exposure to the PENGU token and the Pudgy Penguins non-fungible token (NFT) collection. This marks the first crypto-related ETF offering connected to an NFT collection. According to the filing, the fund will invest in a portfolio consisting of PENGU tokens and NFTs from the Pudgy Penguins collection. Additionally, the fund will hold Solana and Ethereum, which the filing describes as “necessary or incidental to the purchase, sale, and transfer of the Trust’s PENGU and Pudgy Penguins NFTs.”
Read more on X here.
Trump Media to Work with Crypto.com to Offer ETFs
Trump Media and Technology Group signed a non-binding agreement with Crypto.com to launch exchange-traded funds and products on its financial services platform. The operator of Truth Social, which is about 58%-owned by President Trump, plans to offer digital assets and securities “with a Made in America focus,” it said Monday. Crypto.com’s broker dealer Foris Capital will make the ETFs available, it said. Crypto.com will support the backend technology, provide custody and supply cryptocurrencies for the ETFs. It also plans to offer an ETF basket of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Cronos and other assets. The launch is scheduled for later this year subject to regulatory approval, Trump Media said.
In related news, World Liberty Financial Plans to Launch USD1, the Institutional-Ready Stablecoin
Hyperliquid rolls out HyperCore and HyperEVM linking on mainnet to unify DeFi and CEX features
Hyperliquid launched HyperCore and HyperEVM linking on its mainnet to combine decentralized and centralized exchange features for an improved DeFi development experience, according to a Tuesday announcement.
HyperCore is the backbone behind Hyperliquid’s layer-1 network and high-performance trading ecosystem. HyperEVM – which debuted in February – was designed as a general purpose Ethereum Virtual Machine environment to allow Hyperliquid developers to build EVM-compatible dapps based on the HyperCore system. The two structures co-existed separately until now. Moving forward, developers can transfer HyperCore spot assets like Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, between both systems. Once linked, a builder can use a “spotSend action” or the protocol’s frontend interface to convert tokens across HyperCore and HyperEVM. Developers can also tap the ERC-20 transfer feature on the EVM side.
Crypto card issuer Rain raises $24.5 million in round led by Norwest Venture Partners
Rain, which issues debit and credit cards that let customers settle payments in stablecoins, has raised $24.5 million in a funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners, the company announced on Monday. Also participating in the investment were Galaxy Ventures, Goldcrest, Thayer, and Hard Yaka. Rain’s valuation in the round was not disclosed. Rain is a principal member of Visa, one of the world’s largest payment companies, meaning Rain can issue credit and debit cards in partnership with Visa that allow consumers and businesses to make purchases with stablecoins and other crypto.
Polymarket to Accept Solana Deposits Starting Today
Polymarket, the blockchain-based betting platform, has launched on Solana, allowing users to make deposits using the network, the company announced on Monday via X. Known for its real-money prediction markets, Polymarket enables users to wager on a broad range of topics, adjusting odds dynamically based on market activity. Current high-profile bets include the political futures of global leaders, the outcome of Canada’s upcoming election, and cryptocurrency price movements.